Carloman, Mayor of the Palace

Carloman
Charles Martel divides the realm between Pepin and Carloman.
Born	c.713
Died	17 July or 17 August 754 (aged 40-41) Vienne, Isère
Resting place	Abbey of Monte Cassino 41°29′24″N 13°48′50″E / 41.49000°N 13.81389°E / 41.49000; 13.81389
Known for	Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia, Duke of the Franks

Carloman (between 706 and 716 – 17 August 754) was the eldest son of Charles Martel, majordomo or mayor of the palace and duke of the Franks, and his wife Chrotrud of Treves. On Charles's death (741), Carloman and his brother Pepin the Short succeeded to their father's legal positions, Carloman in Austrasia, and Pepin in Neustria. He was a member of the family later called the Carolingians and it can be argued that he was instrumental in consolidating their power at the expense of the ruling Merovingian kings of the Franks. He withdrew from public life in 747 to take up the monastic habit, "the first of a new type of saintly king," according to Norman Cantor, "more interested in religious devotion than royal power, who frequently appeared in the following three centuries and who was an indication of the growing impact of Christian piety on Germanic society".

After the death of his father, power was not initially divided to include Grifo, another of Charles's sons, by his second wife Swanachild. This was per Charles' wishes, though Grifo demanded a portion of the realm from his brothers, who refused him. By 742, Carloman and Pepin had ousted their half-brother, Grifo, and forced him into a monastery, and each turned his attention towards his own area of influence as majordomo, Pippin in the West (in what was called Neustria, roughly the Area between Nancy and Reims) and Carloman in the East (in what was called Austrasia, roughly what is now is the area between Bruges, Metz and Fulda), which was the Carolingian base of power.

With Grifo contained, the two mayors, who had not yet proved themselves in battle in defence of the realm as their father had, on the initiative of Carloman, installed the Merovingian Childeric III as king (743), even though Martel had left the throne vacant since the death of Theuderic IV in 737.